In modern computers the transmission of relatively high speed signals is common. To maintain the integrity of such high speed signals, and also to maintain discrete wire capability in such computers or the like, coaxial cables are used; the central conductor of such cable transmits the high speed signal while the shielding or external conductor provides appropriate ground or other reference plane isolation or shielding.
Various techniques have been used for terminating such coaxial cables, but most, if not all, of such terminations have been relatively large size, bulky, and expensive. Moreover, the coaxial cables typically have been relatively heavy duty cables; for example, one coaxial cable currently used in the computer industry for high speed signal transmission is a 0.140 inch diameter cable. Due to the shear bulk of the cables and the terminations, it has not been possible to achieve a relatively high density pin out capability for connector systems for such cables. Due, at least in part to such cable size and termination size and the inability to achieve high density pin out capability for connectors for such cables, computer systems have had to be physically larger than otherwise would be necessary. As a result, efficient use of large scale integration (LSI) integrated circuits in computers has not fully been made.
A problem occurring in the past when high density electrical connections, i.e. many connections in a relatively small area, have been made, has been the lack of accuracy of the physical connector equipment due to the large size of the connectors and the difficulty, often impossibility, accurately to manufacture, specifically by molding, the same and also due to expansion and/or contraction of parts as temperatures vary. To overcome such problems in the past the pin out capabilities of such relatively high density connectors have been severely limited, e.g. to accommodate large tolerances; as a corollary, the effective pin out density capability, then, of the connection system as a whole would be diminished since the individual connector bodies would require substantial space in which connections are not actually made.
In relatively high density electrical connector systems access to individual wires for physical examination and servicing thereof was not possible without disassembling at least a substantial portion of the connector system. For example, all of the circuits of the connector system may have to be opened in order to service just one circuit. Also, in the past for checking the signals transmitted through such relatively large scale connector systems extender cards were used to provide access for signal probing. However, such extenders may introduce signal delays and, therefore, are undesirable.